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A machine operator? Maybe she was the Factory Girl. I can never decide whether the lyrics to that one are deliberately 1930s, or if there were still proper factory girls in curlers around in the 1960s.
She told me (later)... There's a world of suggestion about that line. And as for the one about liking the way he held the microphone - Mick is the master of making any line sound as if it just might be improper, while actually saying nothing actionable.
ROCKMAN
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2014-09-23 13:09 by Rockman.
I think that Factory Girl is a kind of follow up, again depicting working class women, or in fact just women, in a deprecatory way. One is a machine operator and the other is a factory girl - completely the opposite of the fallen lass in Play With Fire who used to get her kicks in posh Chelsea and St John's Wood.
Or course Jagger returns to the theme of machine operators in Memo From Turner but this time it's a man who 'who squats behind the man who works the soft machine'.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2014-09-23 12:43 by Silver Dagger.
Yeah, it was Buddy Holly, but I took an artistic license in paraphrasing it... I am sure Keith doesn't mind; Reed surely is as big hero of his as Holly is..
- Doxa
Talk about your favorite band.
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Track Talk: The Spider And The Fly
Posted by:
René
()
Date: September 22, 2014 10:21
Comments, input and alterations are very welcome!
_______________________________________________________________________________
The Spider And The Fly
(Nanker Phelge)
RCA Studios, Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, US, May 11 - 12, 1965
Mick Jagger - vocals, harmonica
Keith Richards - electric guitar
Charlie Watts - drums
Bill Wyman - bass
Brian Jones - electric guitar
Sittin', thinkin', sinkin', drinkin'
Wond'ring what I'd do when I'm thru tonight
Smoking, moping, maybe just hopin'
Some little girl will pass on by
Don't wanna be alone but I love my girl at home
I remember what she said
She said: My, my, my, don't tell lies, keep fidelity in your head
My, my, my, don't tell lies, when you're done you should go to bed
Don't say: Hi, like a spider to a fly, jump right ahead and you're dead
Sit up, fed up, low down, go 'round
Down to the bar at the place I'm at
Sitting, drinking, superfic'ly thinking
About the rinsed out blonde on my left
Then I said: Hi, like a spider to a fly
Remembering what my little girl said
She was common, flirty, she looked about thirty
I would have run away but I was on my own
She told me later, she's a machine operator
She said she liked the way I held the microphone
I said: My, my, my, like the spider to a fly, jump right ahead in my web
Produced by Andrew Loog Oldham
First released on:
The Rolling Stones - “Out Of Our Heads” LP
(London PS 429) US, July 30, 1965
_______________________________________________________________________________
The Spider And The Fly
(Nanker Phelge)
RCA Studios, Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, US, May 11 - 12, 1965
Mick Jagger - vocals, harmonica
Keith Richards - electric guitar
Charlie Watts - drums
Bill Wyman - bass
Brian Jones - electric guitar
Sittin', thinkin', sinkin', drinkin'
Wond'ring what I'd do when I'm thru tonight
Smoking, moping, maybe just hopin'
Some little girl will pass on by
Don't wanna be alone but I love my girl at home
I remember what she said
She said: My, my, my, don't tell lies, keep fidelity in your head
My, my, my, don't tell lies, when you're done you should go to bed
Don't say: Hi, like a spider to a fly, jump right ahead and you're dead
Sit up, fed up, low down, go 'round
Down to the bar at the place I'm at
Sitting, drinking, superfic'ly thinking
About the rinsed out blonde on my left
Then I said: Hi, like a spider to a fly
Remembering what my little girl said
She was common, flirty, she looked about thirty
I would have run away but I was on my own
She told me later, she's a machine operator
She said she liked the way I held the microphone
I said: My, my, my, like the spider to a fly, jump right ahead in my web
Produced by Andrew Loog Oldham
First released on:
The Rolling Stones - “Out Of Our Heads” LP
(London PS 429) US, July 30, 1965
Re: Track Talk: The Spider And The Fly
Posted by:
Come On
()
Date: September 22, 2014 10:29
This is what I would call a great song .... a real 5/5...
2 1 2 0
2 1 2 0
Re: Track Talk: The Spider And The Fly
Posted by:
Silver Dagger
()
Date: September 22, 2014 11:33
Was this the first self-written Stones song to show a tongue-in-cheek kind of humour? Whatever, it's a really fun song, written with a nod to Jimmy Reed.
Always loved this one - it's a nice, easy listen and relaxed tempo. An album cut in America but relegated to the b-side of (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction over in the UK.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2014-09-22 13:31 by Silver Dagger.
Always loved this one - it's a nice, easy listen and relaxed tempo. An album cut in America but relegated to the b-side of (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction over in the UK.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2014-09-22 13:31 by Silver Dagger.
Re: Track Talk: The Spider And The Fly
Posted by:
DandelionPowderman
()
Date: September 22, 2014 11:37
Lovely track. Some great guitar weaving from Brian and Keith as well.
They can pick it up any time, and it will still sound great
They can pick it up any time, and it will still sound great
Re: Track Talk: The Spider And The Fly
Posted by:
Silver Dagger
()
Date: September 22, 2014 11:59
And that was replicated by Keith and Ronnie on the Stripped album as well as on some of the Voodoo Lounge tour dates. Love the way Mick changes the age from 30 to 50.
Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2014-09-22 16:44 by Silver Dagger.
Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2014-09-22 16:44 by Silver Dagger.
Re: Track Talk: The Spider And The Fly
Posted by:
windmelody
()
Date: September 22, 2014 13:29
The "Stripped" Version is very good, all Stones in top form.
Re: Track Talk: The Spider And The Fly
Posted by:
drewmaster
()
Date: September 22, 2014 14:32
A charming little track. Nice harp from Mick.
Drew
Drew
Re: Track Talk: The Spider And The Fly
Posted by:
stonesrule
()
Date: September 22, 2014 15:46
Have always loved this song.
Re: Track Talk: The Spider And The Fly
Posted by:
EJM
()
Date: September 22, 2014 16:39
Quote
windmelody
The "Stripped" Version is very good, all Stones in top form.
Re: Track Talk: The Spider And The Fly
Posted by:
Title5Take1
()
Date: September 22, 2014 18:29
Excerpt below from a New Yorker Magazine piece last summer on Mick's birthday:
Happy Birthday, Mick Jagger
BY JOSHUA ROTHMAN
JULY 26, 2013
Today, believe it or not, is Mick Jagger’s seventieth birthday. (He was born on July 26, 1943.) Jagger seems, so far, to defy aging, but if you look closely there have been subtle signs. In 1995, for example, when Jagger was fifty-two, Hendrik Hertzberg noticed a change in some of the Rolling Stones’ lyrics. For decades, the song “The Spider and the Fly,” which is about a rock-and-roll singer getting picked up by a woman in a bar, had featured this couplet:
She was common, flirty, she looked about thirty…
She said she liked the way I held the microphone.
But on “Stripped,” the Stones’ album of acoustic performances, the lyrics had changed:
She was shifty, nifty, she looked about fifty…
She said she liked the way I held the microphone.
“The Spider and the Fly,” Hertzberg pointed out, had been written in 1966, “when Mick and Keith were both around twenty-three.” That means it might be time for a new couplet. (She was shapely, stately, she looked about eighty…?)
Whole piece here >>> [www.newyorker.com]
Happy Birthday, Mick Jagger
BY JOSHUA ROTHMAN
JULY 26, 2013
Today, believe it or not, is Mick Jagger’s seventieth birthday. (He was born on July 26, 1943.) Jagger seems, so far, to defy aging, but if you look closely there have been subtle signs. In 1995, for example, when Jagger was fifty-two, Hendrik Hertzberg noticed a change in some of the Rolling Stones’ lyrics. For decades, the song “The Spider and the Fly,” which is about a rock-and-roll singer getting picked up by a woman in a bar, had featured this couplet:
She was common, flirty, she looked about thirty…
She said she liked the way I held the microphone.
But on “Stripped,” the Stones’ album of acoustic performances, the lyrics had changed:
She was shifty, nifty, she looked about fifty…
She said she liked the way I held the microphone.
“The Spider and the Fly,” Hertzberg pointed out, had been written in 1966, “when Mick and Keith were both around twenty-three.” That means it might be time for a new couplet. (She was shapely, stately, she looked about eighty…?)
Whole piece here >>> [www.newyorker.com]
Re: Track Talk: The Spider And The Fly
Posted by:
liddas
()
Date: September 22, 2014 19:06
The lyrics - I assume Mick wrote them - are pure genius.
And the music complements them perfectly.
With just a few words he says all there is to say. We all know it damn well, we've all been there!
C
And the music complements them perfectly.
With just a few words he says all there is to say. We all know it damn well, we've all been there!
C
Re: Track Talk: The Spider And The Fly
Posted by:
Witness
()
Date: September 22, 2014 20:31
I think "The Spider And The Fly" is exemplary for the Stones as one song of theirs that at its time was felt as quite OK and definitely to one's liking, although not spectacular, compared to other songs from both the Stones and some other contemporary groups, but then has a lasting impact much greater than the slightly moderate impression from early years. And the song, among not a few Stones songs from different periods, grows on you, gradually.
Re: Track Talk: The Spider And The Fly
Posted by:
Des
()
Date: September 22, 2014 22:56
I love to strum this one, the bluesy sway to it is fun and sets it appart.
I was also impressed when John Hammond pulled it out of the hat at a musicfestival and it got his biggest applause.
I was suprized this year at the same festival as I walked along I heard the familiar ramblings of the piano to No Expectations from a local folk female group.
I was also impressed when John Hammond pulled it out of the hat at a musicfestival and it got his biggest applause.
I was suprized this year at the same festival as I walked along I heard the familiar ramblings of the piano to No Expectations from a local folk female group.
Re: Track Talk: The Spider And The Fly
Posted by:
NICOS
()
Date: September 22, 2014 22:57
The fun thing about stones songs compare to some other bands from that period, who more sounded like concept bands, is the diversity of some of their songs maybe because they had'nt a specific way of writing songs (?) it's just slipped out of Keith's guitar.....while playing some licks..........and Mick filling in the lyrics depending on his mood............ (just my opinion)
__________________________
__________________________
Re: Track Talk: The Spider And The Fly
Posted by:
OzHeavyThrobber
()
Date: September 23, 2014 02:32
Good fun song but I prefer the Stripped version. Very laid back and bluesy.
"A machine operator" haha don't know if any other song of their's shows it's age as badly because of the lyrics. Maybe it's A side when referencing ciggie advertising on TV?
"A machine operator" haha don't know if any other song of their's shows it's age as badly because of the lyrics. Maybe it's A side when referencing ciggie advertising on TV?
Re: Track Talk: The Spider And The Fly
Posted by:
saturn57
()
Date: September 23, 2014 05:24
Have always loved this song!
It's so very lonely, you're 2,000 Light Years from home
It's so very lonely, you're 2,000 Light Years from home
Re: Track Talk: The Spider And The Fly
Posted by:
mandu
()
Date: September 23, 2014 09:39
I love the version on stripped and I can play harmonica to this song
Feel The Fear
And Do It Anyway
Feel The Fear
And Do It Anyway
Re: Track Talk: The Spider And The Fly
Posted by:
Green Lady
()
Date: September 23, 2014 10:24
Quote
OzHeavyThrobber
Good fun song but I prefer the Stripped version. Very laid back and bluesy.
"A machine operator" haha don't know if any other song of their's shows it's age as badly because of the lyrics. Maybe it's A side when referencing ciggie advertising on TV?
A machine operator? Maybe she was the Factory Girl. I can never decide whether the lyrics to that one are deliberately 1930s, or if there were still proper factory girls in curlers around in the 1960s.
She told me (later)... There's a world of suggestion about that line. And as for the one about liking the way he held the microphone - Mick is the master of making any line sound as if it just might be improper, while actually saying nothing actionable.
Re: Track Talk: The Spider And The Fly
Posted by:
Rockman
()
Date: September 23, 2014 11:45
ROCKMAN
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2014-09-23 13:09 by Rockman.
Re: Track Talk: The Spider And The Fly
Posted by:
Doxa
()
Date: September 23, 2014 12:03
There is a Keith Richards quote in a Donovan thread, and to paraphrase it "I play two Jimmy Reed numbers in a row, and a third one is mine".... pops up "The Spider And The Fly"...
The song is a great example of Jagger/Richards duo discovering an original take on teh musical genre they were most hot on their late teenager years. By the time it was done and relaesed it probably wasn't such a big winner any longer, since their mind probably wan't into authentic blues any longer. So it basically was an album filler and single B-side material. But that was it like in 1965. And like said by someone above, the time has been kind to "Spider And The Fly", and I would say it even shines today as representing the band in its early r&b essence, showing that they were able to master the blues song format, and sound damn original. I can't think of any white 'pop' band from 1965 to actually having such a mature and original voice in blues. Decades later the great updated version in STRIPPED showed that the band also was rather satisfied with the result.
I guess it is, like SilverDagger mentioned, a first sign of tongue-in-a-cheek approach Jagger would be known from time to time since then. Jagger's presence altogether is huge on a track - it is not any longer any Jimmy Reed imitator, but authentic Mick Jagger.
One of the best blues tracks the band has ever done.
- Doxa
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2014-09-23 12:06 by Doxa.
The song is a great example of Jagger/Richards duo discovering an original take on teh musical genre they were most hot on their late teenager years. By the time it was done and relaesed it probably wasn't such a big winner any longer, since their mind probably wan't into authentic blues any longer. So it basically was an album filler and single B-side material. But that was it like in 1965. And like said by someone above, the time has been kind to "Spider And The Fly", and I would say it even shines today as representing the band in its early r&b essence, showing that they were able to master the blues song format, and sound damn original. I can't think of any white 'pop' band from 1965 to actually having such a mature and original voice in blues. Decades later the great updated version in STRIPPED showed that the band also was rather satisfied with the result.
I guess it is, like SilverDagger mentioned, a first sign of tongue-in-a-cheek approach Jagger would be known from time to time since then. Jagger's presence altogether is huge on a track - it is not any longer any Jimmy Reed imitator, but authentic Mick Jagger.
One of the best blues tracks the band has ever done.
- Doxa
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2014-09-23 12:06 by Doxa.
Re: Track Talk: The Spider And The Fly
Posted by:
Silver Dagger
()
Date: September 23, 2014 12:42
Quote
Doxa
There is a Keith Richards quote in a Donovan thread, and to paraphrase it "I play two Jimmy Reed numbers in a row, and a third one is mine".... pops up "The Spider And The Fly"...
The song is a great example of Jagger/Richards duo discovering an original take on teh musical genre they were most hot on their late teenager years. By the time it was done and relaesed it probably wasn't such a big winner any longer, since their mind probably wan't into authentic blues any longer. So it basically was an album filler and single B-side material. But that was it like in 1965. And like said by someone above, the time has been kind to "Spider And The Fly", and I would say it even shines today as representing the band in its early r&b essence, showing that they were able to master the blues song format, and sound damn original. I can't think of any white 'pop' band from 1965 to actually having such a mature and original voice in blues. Decades later the great updated version in STRIPPED showed that the band also was rather satisfied with the result.
I guess it is, like SilverDagger mentioned, a first sign of tongue-in-a-cheek approach Jagger would be known from time to time since then. Jagger's presence altogether is huge on a track - it is not any longer any Jimmy Reed imitator, but authentic Mick Jagger.
One of the best blues tracks the band has ever done.
- Doxa
I think that Factory Girl is a kind of follow up, again depicting working class women, or in fact just women, in a deprecatory way. One is a machine operator and the other is a factory girl - completely the opposite of the fallen lass in Play With Fire who used to get her kicks in posh Chelsea and St John's Wood.
Or course Jagger returns to the theme of machine operators in Memo From Turner but this time it's a man who 'who squats behind the man who works the soft machine'.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2014-09-23 12:43 by Silver Dagger.
Re: Track Talk: The Spider And The Fly
Posted by:
Doxa
()
Date: September 23, 2014 13:02
A quick look at the fabulous "Track Talk" in timeisonourside.com reveals that the maestro himself captures the essence of the song nicely:
"I really wasn't mad about it, but when you listen to it on record, it still holds up quite interestingly as a blues song. It's a Jimmy Reed blues with British pop-group words, which is an interesting combination: a song somewhat stuck in a time warp."
- Mick Jagger, 1995
- Doxa
"I really wasn't mad about it, but when you listen to it on record, it still holds up quite interestingly as a blues song. It's a Jimmy Reed blues with British pop-group words, which is an interesting combination: a song somewhat stuck in a time warp."
- Mick Jagger, 1995
- Doxa
Re: Track Talk: The Spider And The Fly
Posted by:
DandelionPowderman
()
Date: September 23, 2014 13:29
The Keith quote was Buddy Holly, but he probably had a quote for Jimmy as well
Re: Track Talk: The Spider And The Fly
Posted by:
Doxa
()
Date: September 23, 2014 15:56
Quote
DandelionPowderman
The Keith quote was Buddy Holly, but he probably had a quote for Jimmy as well
Yeah, it was Buddy Holly, but I took an artistic license in paraphrasing it... I am sure Keith doesn't mind; Reed surely is as big hero of his as Holly is..
- Doxa
Re: Track Talk: The Spider And The Fly
Posted by:
DandelionPowderman
()
Date: September 23, 2014 16:00
Re: Track Talk: The Spider And The Fly
Posted by:
71Tele
()
Date: September 23, 2014 18:46
Great track. Lots of that boyish Stones charm.
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